After 3 previous tries, new Bergdahl trial date could be set

FILE - In this Jan. 12, 2016, file photo, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl arrives for a pretrial hearing at Fort Bragg, N.C. A military judge could set a new timetable for the desertion case against Bergdahl at a pre-trial hearing nearly three years after the soldier's return from captivity. The judge has already scratched three previous trial dates amid delays over the exchange of classified information between prosecutors and defense lawyers. That process is expected to be a focus of a hearing on Friday, May 5, 2017, at Fort Bragg. (AP Photo/Ted Richardson, File)

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — A military judge in North Carolina could set a new timetable for the desertion case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl at a pre-trial hearing nearly three years after the soldier’s return from captivity.

The judge already has scratched three previous trial dates amid delays over the exchange of classified information between prosecutors and defense lawyers. That process is expected to be a focus of Friday’s hearing at Fort Bragg.

Bergdahl’s trial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy was most recently scheduled for April, but the judge postponed it indefinitely.

Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, left his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was held by the Taliban and its allies about five years.

The military investigation of Bergdahl began after he was freed May 31, 2014, in exchange for five Taliban prisoners.